Robert Pattinson Charting Familiar Path With Post-'Twilight' Roles

With two small films in the works, the
heartthrob proves he's planning a future beyond the franchise that made
him, experts tell MTV News.

Robert Pattinson
knows that the shelf life of a Hollywood heartthrob is short. Teen
dreams have a tendency to come and go with shocking regularity, which is
why the actor is intent to do everything he can to break out of the
mold.

The success of the "The Twilight Saga"
has alternately put Pattinson in the best and worst position an actor
can have in the business. He's become a superstar on the back of a
franchise, but since he was a relative unknown when cast, it also
defines his career up to this point. We know him for that role — and not
much else.

Of course, Pattinson is aiming to change that with a series of upcoming roles, including the just-announced "Mission: Blacklist,"
a "gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller" about a military interrogator
that played a key role in the 2003 capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein. On Thursday (May 3), Deadline
also reported that Pattinson has been added to "The Rover." As Reynolds
in the David Michod film, he'll pursue the men responsible for stealing
his car all across "the rough Australian outback."

"What Robert Pattinson is doing isn't new in the slightest," Greg Ellwood of HitFix
told MTV News. "Ever since the American indie scene exploded in the
early '90s, actors such as John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Reese
Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, George Clooney, Gwyneth Paltrow, Christian
Bale, Ewan McGregor and John Cusack, among others, have jumped between
indie and studio-produced films."

Indeed, it's a well-tread path,
and the actor is following it closely with several films in the can that
he hopes will establish him as a leading man outside of the "Twilight"
franchise.

In "Bel Ami," RPattz plays a young man navigating the
tricky social hierarchy of late-19th-century Paris by manipulating the
city's most influential and wealthy women. And as "ER" star Clooney did
with Steven Soderbergh ("Out of Sight," "Ocean's 11"), when he was
trying to break away from his TV persona, Pattinson has smartly aligned
himself with an acclaimed filmmaker, David Cronenberg ("Eastern
Promises," "A History of Violence"), for the futuristic indie thriller "Cosmopolis," which will make its world premiere in competition later this month at the Cannes Film Festival.

All
of these roles are a major departure from Edward Cullen, and while
that's a risk, the films have relatively low budgets, letting producers
and financers gradually test whether Pattinson is a bankable movie star —
and a strong leading actor — outside of the franchise that has defined
his career to this point. Pattinson isn't, as they say, putting all his
eggs in one basket.

"What makes Pattinson different is his huge
core fanbase so early in his career," Ellwood continued. "Yet, he's
still not a household name outside of the 'Twilight' fanbase or movie
fans under the age of 30."

Contrast that with Jennifer Lawrence,
who already had an Oscar nomination for "Winter's Bone" and a box-office
hit in "X Men: First Class" under her belt before conquering screens as
Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games." The role has made Lawrence a household name,
but unlike Pattinson, her abilities as an actress and future as a
performer were not really in question before she entered the arena.
Indeed, many critics noted the film was made all the better by having a
proven actress in the lead role.

As Pattinson transitions from
"Twilight," he has something to prove. So far, he has wisely steered
clear of big-budget fare, a mistake his "Twilight" co-star Taylor
Lautner made only to see his first star vehicle, "Abduction," misfire at
the box office, calling into question whether the teen star can carry a
movie.

Pattinson has so far headlined two non-"Twilight"
features: "Remember Me" and "Water for Elephants." And while "Remember
Me" grossed only $19 million domestically, it cost only $16 million to
make, so once international grosses ($37 million) were accounted for, it
was easily in the black (if not the hit he was likely hoping for).
"Water for Elephants" fared better, but co-star Reese Witherspoon also
gets credit for its $117 million combined worldwide gross.

"Starring
in films like 'Water for Elephants' opposite Reese Witherspoon helps,
but he's going to need to mix up another big hit or two outside of
'Twilight' to reach the [Leonardo] DiCaprio or [Brad] Pitt level,"
Ellwood says. "You could argue that Kristen Stewart is further down that
road. Especially after the expected blockbuster 'Snow White and the Huntsman' opens in June."

Pattinson's
post-"Twilight" choices show a performer who wants to be taken
seriously as a versatile actor without risking a major financial
failure. He seems keen to line up as much quality work as he can before
the franchise ends and he jumps off the proverbial cliff and into the
unknown. Whether he can pull it off remains to be seen, but his choices
at least prove that he's interested in being more than a movie star.
Like all those other stars who took the indie-film leap in the '90s,
Pattinson wants you to think of him as an actor first and a global
celebrity second.